Coming Down Glass
by taxi.cab.to.nowhere
Summary: Six years after Shiraishi Miharu didn't go on her Pokemon adventure, Team Galaxy has control over Sinnoh and her best friend is missing. Miharu sets out in this new Sinnoh to find some answers. Rated for language and violence.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** So, I've always wanted to write a more serious, slightly darker Pokemon fic - I was playing Pokemon Diamond and thought, 'What if Team Galaxy took over Sinnoh after failing to rebuild the world according to Cyrus' rule?' And, uhm, this is what came out of it. I hope you enjoy reading it.

**NOTE:** I used some of the Japanese names (for towns and people, but I kept the English Pokemon names because even I would get confused...). Here are the translations. I'll keep posting translations at the start of each chapter if there are new names:

Risshi Lake/Lake Valor (the one by Pastoria)  
Shinji Lake/Lake Verity (by Twinleaf)  
Futaba/Twinleaf  
Masago/Sandgem  
Yosuga/Hearthrome

Sonō/Floaroma

Nomose/Pastoria  
Zui/Solaceon  
Nanakamado-hakase/Professor Rowan  
Shirona-sama/Cynthia  
Galaxy-dan/Team Galaxy/Galactic. Technically, if I was using the Japanese name it would be Ginga-dan, but I'm going to stick with Galaxy Gang or Team Galaxy, 'cause it's cool.

* * *

"Mama! You've got to be kidding!" Ten-year-old Shiraishi Miharu's cry echoed shrilly across the small house. Her mother, Shiraishi Izumi, furrowed her brow, wiped her hands on a small hand towel, and turned to her daughter. Miharu had dark brown hair that tumbled down to her shoulders and dark green eyes. She was still wearing pyjama bottoms dotted with Cleffas and a white tank top, despite it being well past nine o' clock in the morning.

Izumi, her pretty face contorted into a pained expression, said, "Haru, we _talked_ about this..."

"No, no, no!" Miharu wailed childishly, stamping her foot. "Mama, I _have_ to go! My friends are _waiting_ for me! How could you do this to me?"

Miharu was, of course, talking about partaking in a Pokémon journey, something kids could apply for in Sinnoh when they reached the age of ten. The children of Futaba Town, where Miharu lived, had to make their way all the way to Masago Town. Once there, they would go to the laboratory of Nanakamado-hakase, who would give them their first Pokémon.

Miharu's tomboyish friend Anzai Michiyo, who had a tousled shock of red hair that clung to the back of her neck and brown eyes, was waiting out on the front steps of the house, bundled down with a well-stuffed backpack. She looked apprehensive, peering into the house through the open door. Izumi could see Miharu's trainers and own backpack thrown carelessly against the coat rack.

"Haru, I've told you a thousand times. I don't think a ten-year-old should be allowed to go off on her own, not in such a large land like Sinnoh."

"Mama, please!" Miharu pleaded. "Michi's waiting for me! I've waited my whole _life_ for this! We planned our entire journey out! We're going to the Pokémon League together!"

Izumi felt the beginnings of a headache gathering behind her eyes. Her daughter, who was ambitious but not very realistic, had a tendency to make wild, unrealistic plans with Michiyo (who was equally as wishful). "Miharu, please. We've already had this discussion. I have nothing against you going on a Pokémon journey, but when you're older. For now, you need to stay here and go to school for a few more years."

"But everybody starts when they're ten!" Miharu protested.

"Well, you're not everybody, are you?" Izumi shot back.

"And by the time I _do_ start, everyone's going to be so ahead! Nobody starts when they're old!" Miharu pressed on, ignoring her mother's response

"Now, that's not true!" Izumi retorted. "I caught Starry when I was twenty-two, and I won quite a few contests in Yosuga City."

'Starry' was Izumi's Staravia, who she had caught as a Starly and had now become sort of a family pet. He had his own tree that he called home in the backyard.

Frustrated, Miharu crossed her arms. "That's different." she muttered. "All the Pokémon Champions started when they were _ten_. Shirona-sama carried a Pokédex for Nanakamado-hakase and she's still the oldest Champion in Sinnoh history!"

While Miharu was arguing, Michiyo stepped into the house and started to remove her shoes. Izumi shook her head. "That won't be necessary Michiyo. She isn't going."

"What?" Michiyo looked from mother to daughter in disbelief. Miharu looked close to tears. "Mama won't let me go, Michi."

"But - but Shiraishi-san! We had it _all planned out_." Michiyo urged.

Izumi sighed. "I heard."

Miharu gave her friend a miserable look. "You go without me, Michi. But you promise you'll come back  
later when I start?"

Michiyo nodded fervently. "Yes! I promise!"

"I'll let her participate when she's sixteen." Izumi said reluctantly, and Miharu almost fell over. "Six years? I have to wait six years??" she asked.

"All right, six years." Michiyo said quickly, scared that, if annoyed, Izumi might raise it to seven. "When you turn sixteen, I'll meet you at Nanakamado-hakase's laboratory. OK?"

Miharu nodded reluctantly, and hugged her. "Have a good time for me. Catch tons of Pokémon and go everywhere!"

Michiyo saluted. "You can count on me, Haru. I'll even keep an eye on Jun for you, if you'd like."

Miharu smiled. Michiyo and Miharu had been friends since primary school, and had the "honour" of being in the same class as one Watanabe Jun. Jun had wild, unkempt blonde hair and couldn't seem to stop moving for the life of him. Michiyo got on with him pretty well - they had the same boundless energy and an almost ADD-way of functioning - and Miharu had known him since childhood; when he wasn't annoying her with his unreliability, he was a very good friend.

As if on cue, Jun came hurrying up to her walk, wearing his usual green scarf and striped jumper.  
"Come on!" he yelled from the foot of the path, bouncing eagerly from one foot to the other. "We don't have all day!"

Then he remembered himself, bowed quickly and yelled, "Good morning Shiraishi-san!"

"Good morning, Watanabe-kun!" Izumi answered in amusement. "Good luck on your journey!"

Jun flashed a thumbs-up. "Thanks, but I don't need it. I'm gonna be the toughest trainer in Sinnoh, you wait and see!"

Miharu rolled her eyes playfully. Michiyo stifled a laugh.

"Are you _sure_, Mama?" Miharu asked one last time as Michiyo started to leave. "I've got my stuff all packed, I could be out of here in two minutes, and I'd be all right!"

"That's my final word, Haru. When you're sixteen." Izumi said firmly.

Miharu heaved a loud sigh through her nose to express her displeasure, and then ran out in her pyjamas to say her last goodbyes to Michiyo and Jun. Izumi leaned against the doorframe and shook her head. 

She had been raising Miharu on her own for almost five years now - her husband had left for Johto to study the Ruins of Alph and only managed to send a letter once a month. Miharu had grown up with the traveling bug, itching to follow in her father's footsteps and see the world. Izumi was not that anxious to lose another member of her family to the lures of exotic lands.

Miharu came slowly back up the walk, wiping the back of her hand clumsily across her nose. Izumi opened her arms but her daughter walked past her, face stony. "I'm going back to bed." she said in a dead-pan. Izumi let out a sigh.

* * *

As it happened, a few things happened to delay Miharu's "grand Pokémon adventure". Michiyo kept a constant stream of letters to Futaba Town coming throughout the months - first with a small, exhausted Starly, then with a Staravia, and then finally with a regal Staraptor. The letters at first were detailed and excited, notes crammed into the margins of the mail paper about sights that Michiyo saw and people she met ("this lady I met in Sonō Town makes the _best _cakes I have ever had - she decorates them like flowers from the town but they taste so delicious!"). Miharu tried to keep the jealousy she felt out of her replies.

As the months passed, however, Michiyo's letters became sparse with information - in most, she seemed too hurried to involve too many details.

Then, about 10 months after Michiyo had left, there was a tremendous earthquake.

* * *

Miharu had been lounging upstairs in her room, stretched out on her stomach reading a PokeGirl magazine ("buy a Pokétch! Now in adorable pastel! Decorate it with a Pikachu skin today!"). She had a long blue scarf tied around her head, and the rest of it dangled down her back. Tabasco, the family Meowth, was sitting on her bum, swatting at the tassles. It was a beautiful day, and Miharu had been wondering whether or not she should bike down to her friend's house, one Yoshikuni Emi, who was one of the only other kids her age who did not take the League challenge when they were ten. Emi's parents had forbidden her to go because of a severe case of pneumonia when she was little that had weakened her lungs. She was still allowed to do most things that the kids did, however, and Miharu found her a good source of company when she got lonely.

That was when things got weird. The house started shaking. Tabasco fell off Miharu with a startled  
'nya?' The tremors were so violent that things started crashing downstairs and her mother started hollering. Miharu dropped to the floor and crawled under her desk, scared out of her wits.

The tremors only lasted for a short time, but when they stopped Miharu still felt unnerved.

Izumi came rushing up the stairs, wild-eyed. "Is everyone all right?" she asked.

Tabasco mewled from the floor. Miharu got out from under her desk, shaken. "Yes, I'm fine." she said. "I  
was just scared."

Her mother, after checking Tabasco and vacuuming up the remains of Miharu's smashed Togepi bank, turned on the television in her room and switched it to the news channel. The news reporter looked as shaken as Miharu felt.

"The tremors felt throughout Sinnoh moments ago were not caused by an earthquake, police in Nomose City report. The tremors came from a bomb which was planted in Risshi Lake, which right now is absent of water. The cult-like gang Galaxy-dan is suspected of planting the bomb. More information to follow."

Her mother turned away from the screen. "How awful," she muttered. "I always knew that Galaxy Gang were bad news."

On the contrary, Miharu remembered her mother talking about Galaxy - she had seen one of their advertisements on TV (asking for Pokémon, of course), and when she had inquired about them, Izumi had replied, "They're harmless. They're just a crazy group of people. Don't pay them any mind."

Miharu had put them out of her head until she learned of this.

"What's going to happen?" asked Miharu, who was eleven and didn't know how these things worked. Izumi placed a hand on her daughter's head. "The police are going to catch the people who did this," she soothed. "Don't worry. It will all work out."

"Can I go visit Emi?" asked Miharu, who was worrying about how her fragile friend had taken the tremors.

"Fine." said her mother, who looked worried. She was chewing her bottom lip as she followed Miharu downstairs, watched her lace up her sneakers and pull on a light jacket.

"Take Tabasco with you," Izumi burst out suddenly. "He knows a few things."

Miharu stared at her mother. "Why? I'm just going to Emi's house."

Izumi embraced her daughter. "I know, I know," she laughed. "I'm just being a worrywart. Bring him with you, for me?"

Tabasco hopped onto Miharu's back, digging his claws into her scarf as the girl left the house.

All of her neighbours were outside and chattering nervously to each other. Miharu saw elderly Saitou-sensei, her primary teacher, and waved to her as she went by. Saitou-sensei waved back a bit hesitantly. Miharu could see her arm quaking.

When Miharu approached Emi's house, which was only two blocks over, her brother was striding out the front door purposefully.

Miharu blushed and used the ends of her scarf to hide her red face (despite Tabasco's protests). Yoshikuni Takumi was six years older than her, with dark hair swept perfectly away from his face and clear blue eyes. He had been her crush since she was ten. Jun didn't like the guy, but Miharu figured it was because Takumi knew more about Pokémon then he did.

Takumi slowed his pace and nodded at Miharu, smiling. "Hello, Haru. Come to see my sister?"

"H-hello Takumi! Yes, is she in?"

Takumi jerked his thumb towards the gate to their backyard. "The usual spot. I gotta run now, Haru, take care."

"Ye-yes!" Miharu squeaked. Takumi made it down the walkway before Mrs. Yoshikuni, greeting Miharu hurriedly, came running after him.

Miharu opened the gate and walked around to the back of the house.

Emi was an avid gardener - she spent hours out in her mother's backyard garden, weeding and watering and caring for the plants. In her spare time she plotted out her dream garden and with half of her allowance she saved up for seed packets that she bought at the corner store.

Her father, seeing how upset she was about not being allowed to go on a Pokémon journey when she was ten, caught a Budew for her to keep around the house. It was now her constant companion, happy to spend the hours outside in the garden.

Emi was sitting on the back steps when Miharu came round, Budew bouncing around her feet. She looked up when she heard footsteps and Miharu took a look at her friend.

Emi was a willowy, sickly looking girl, looking even more sickly from shock. Her skin was white and papery (though she often gardened without a hat on), and her dark black hair was cut in a short bob with a thick fringe of bangs. Miharu worriedly looked the younger girl up and down, Tabasco clinging to her scarf. Emi was wearing her usual working clothes, denim shorts and a black tanktop along with a pair of trainers she used for gardening, which used to be white and were now covered in dirt. "Are you all right?" she asked. "Did you have to take any medicine?"

Emi, who was prone to panic attacks, gave a quick laugh and waved her hands reassuringly at her friend.

"No, no, Haru, I'm perfectly fine. The tremors just gave me a shock, is all."

Miharu smiled in relief. "Did you hear? They say Team Galaxy set off a bomb in Risshi Lake!"

Emi gaped, wide-eyed. "Really?" she asked. "That's what those tremors were?"

"I think so." Miharu nodded. "Where was your brother going in such a hurry?"

Emi frowned. "I don't know. I thought he was helping Mama clean the house today..."

"Takumi!" it was Emi's mother, and the two girls, alarmed, hurried around to the front of the house.

Takumi was continuing on his way, his mother shouting at him in panic. Emi's father was hurrying down the walkway towards his wife.

"Asuka, what's the matter?" he asked.

"He's going to the lake!" Emi's mother exclaimed in exasperation. "He says that Team Galaxy's trying to destroy all three lakes in Sinnoh."

"Where did he get a stupid idea like that?" Emi's father asked, although he could guess where it could  
have come from (Takumi always did have poor choice in friends).

Emi looked distraught. "Team Galaxy is trying to destroy the lakes? Takumi will get hurt."

Nervously, she picked up Budew and started petting it.

"Let's go to the lake." the words were out of Miharu's mouth so fast that she could barely believe she had said them. Jun would have said that, had he been here, or Michiyo - both of them more eager to go on adventures then she had ever been (though her temper tantrum when she was ten suggested otherwise).

Emi looked confused but, as was in her nature, she didn't question her motives. "All right." she said.  
"Just let me get my bag."

Emi always carried around a small blue backpack with a bit of medicine in it - purely for emergency, she assured Miharu, and since Miharu had never seen Emi use any of the medicine, she always left it at that.

Budew eagerly hopped into Emi's arms and the two girls set off.

"Where are you kids going?" Emi's mother wanted to know.

"Oh, we're going - "

" - down to the arcade," Miharu cut Emi off. "Is that okay, Yoshikuni-san?"

Emi's mother smiled. "All right. I hope the tremors didn't upset your mother too much, Miharu?"

"No ma'am. She was just caught off guard."

As soon as the two girls rounded the block, they cut across the street and headed towards the outskirts of town - Shinji Lake was twenty minutes away from Futaba Town.

Emi walked slow, and Miharu slowed her pace to match her friend's.

"I think I've seen Team Galaxy on TV before." Emi thought out loud. "They put some commercials in  
between Pokegirls (1) once."

"Yeah, I saw them on TV too. My mum didn't seem to think they were too dangerous."

Emi nodded, and they were silent for awhile. Miharu looked around as they climbed the slight incline that lead to Route 201.

Futaba Town was the second smallest town in Sinnoh (next to Zui Town). Since it was in the southern part of Sinnoh, Futaba was blessed with beautiful weather year-round (hot and dry in the summer and a milder heat through the rest of the seasons). Futaba's selling point was the abundance of lush, green trees that gave off a fresh scent that permeated the town. Every spring, when the scent of fragrant trees was the strongest, Futaba had its annual Fresh Leaf Festival (2). Miharu had been going every year with Michiyo and Jun ever since she could remember. Well...this year, she was going with Emi, since both Michiyo and Jun were too far away to come back in time.

Miharu idly stooped to pick up a pebble and tossed it at the "_Welcome to Futaba – Fresh and Free!_" sign with a sigh - it hit the edge of the board with a clunk.

"Something wrong?" asked Emi as she sat down on the grass by the sign, winded from the slight climb.  
Miharu plopped down next to her. "I don't know," she said miserably. "I miss Michi and Jun. I really wanted to go with them - whenever I imagined going on a Pokemon journey I always assumed that I would be going with Michiyo."

Emi was silent. "Well...you can always catch up with them when your mum lets you go, right?" she finally suggested

"It's not the same!" Miharu exclaimed. "They're out having all these adventures and when I join them I'll  
have missed so much! It just feels - " she looked sullenly at the ground. " - it just feels like I'm missing out, you know?"

"Haru, if you're upset because you're missing their adventure, don't be. It's their adventure to have for  
themselves. What you should concentrate on it going on your _own_ adventure. You can never have their  
experiences, but you can have your own."

Miharu stared at her friend. "Wow, Emi. That was intense."

Emi blushed fiercely, then heaved herself to her feet, wiping her palms on her shorts. Budew hopped into her arms once more. "Come on," she said. "Or my brother will get too far ahead. I don't want him getting into trouble."

Miharu nodded. She used to go to the lake frequently, but as of late a bunch of historians had gotten a law passed that declared Shinji Lake a historic landmark - that meant no camping, fishing, or major construction on the lakefront or around the lake. The historians meant business, and were willing to jump on anyone who might've broken the law even a little bit.

Miharu looked up at the sky and tried to quell a small bubble of fear that was rising in her stomach...Takumi's mother said that Takumi believed Team Galaxy was trying to destroy the three lakes...what if he was right? What if Takumi was in danger?

Miharu shook her head and pulled Tabasco from her scarf with a yowl of protest. "I'm just tired, Tabasco, that's all." she told the Meowth, earning an odd stare from Emi. "Now I'm thinking out loud..."

* * *

When the two girls emerged from the thicket that surrounded the Shinji lakefront, Takumi was arguing with two people in space suit-like outfits, both with identical, bright turquoise hair. They both had rather menacing looking Golbats, and Takumi's Luxio was at his side, snarling.

"Team Galactic thanks you for your cooperation," one of them was saying. "But this expedition does not concern you - please return to your home."

"Shut up!" Takumi snarled. "I heard what you freaks did at Risshi, and if you're thinking you can get away with it twice..."

"Please," said the other, smiling, "Everything is under control."

One of the Golbats hit Takumi's Luxio with a vicious Wing Attack, while the other bit Takumi's shoulder hard. Emi's brother went down, swearing.

Emi went forward, screaming Takumi's name. One of the men caught her by the forearm.

"This doesn't concern you, little girl." he said in a condescending tone. "That's my brother!" Emi shouted at him.

Tabasco was spitting with distaste and ran forward to bat at the Pokémon that had bitten Takumi. Its space-suited owner looked surprised, but laughed when his Golbat swatted the little cat Pokémon away with ease. Miharu ran forward to pick the stunned Meowth up gently.

Meanwhile, Takumi's Luxio was wrestling the other Golbat down amidst swears from its owner, who was still keeping a tight grip on Emi.

The other man grabbed Miharu by the collar of her shirt and said, "Look at what we have here! Another little trainer!"

Wide-eyed, Miharu shook her head furiously. "No!" she protested. "I'm not a Trainer!"

"Do you think I'm stupid?" he sneered. "I've seen enough arrogant pipsqueaks like you running around to know a Pokémon Trainer when I see one."

Tabasco, meanwhile, had recovered and had leapt onto the man's arm, attempting to claw through the thick rubber that made up his uniform. The man shook his arm, trying to knock the Meowth off.

"Just call your Meowth off and I'll let you go." He growled, trying to fight Tabasco one-handed.

"She's not a Trainer!" Emi shouted as the other man held her back. "That's her mum's Meowth!"

"For God's sake!" Takumi groaned as he staggered to his feet. "They're just children!"

"We can't afford to underestimate anyone at this point." it was another voice speaking, a high, feminine one. Miharu turned to see a slim, petite woman standing behind them with several other space-suited, turquoise-haired people. Her uniform, though made of similar materials, involved such things as a cone skirt, and most of her bright red hair had been gathered into one spike jutting off the top of her head.

"What are you talking about?" asked Takumi. The man holding Miharu looked abashed, and quickly bowed.

"Commander Mars! These children were fooling around - "

"So get rid of them." said Mars.

The man turned back to Miharu and made a movement as if to hit her. Miharu flinched and closed her eyes...

"Staraptor, use Gust!" a familiar voice shouted, and a strong wind kicked up. With a cry, Tabasco was ripped off the man's arm and tumbled to the ground. The remaining Golbat (who hadn't been pinned to the ground by Luxio) lost control and joined Tabasco on the ground.

" - the _fuck_ was that?" the man pushed Miharu in front of him as the Staraptor's trainer stepped towards them.

"M-Michiyo?" Miharu gasped. Michiyo, who looked completely unchanged since the last time she saw her except for a pair of goggles tangled in her hair (for whatever reason), brightened.

"Haru! Long time no see! Duck, okay?"

Miharu obligingly lowered her head and the Staraptor lunged for the man's face.

He, naturally, let Miharu go and tried to fight off the large Pokemon.

"Anzai!" Mars shrieked, looking quite upset. "I remember you!"

Michiyo looked sufficiently baffled as she recalled Staraptor - the man had been scared enough.

"Huh?" she said.

"The Valley Windworks!" Mars prompted. At Michiyo's blank stare she said incredulously. "You really don't remember me?"

Michiyo shook her head. "Sorry." she shrugged. Mars growled.

"I'm Mars, one of the Galaxy Commanders! I was on a mission at the Valley Windworks, and you screwed it up. I lost a lot of respect because of that."

Michiyo looked amazed. "Wait, you're mad at me because I fought you at Valley Windworks and you lost so you had to leave? What evil organization makes a deal with a ten-year-old kid and actually _keeps_ it? You're stupid! (3)"

Mars sneered. "I'm not going to bother battling you, Anzai, because I'm _not_ stupid. Anyways, we got what we came for, isn't that right?"

She directed the question to the men, who nodded and bowed.

"Team Galaxy, out." Mars commanded, and bowed stiffly to Michiyo. "By your leave, Anzai."

She threw what looked like a ball made of black material onto the ground. It exploded into thick, gritty turquoise smoke. Miharu heard Michiyo call out Staraptor again and tell it to use Defog, but by the time he obeyed, Mars and the men were gone.

"What's going on?" Miharu asked, bewildered.

Looking frustrated, Michiyo properly embraced her friend and said, "A whole lotta things. Listen - "

"Michiyo!" someone called from behind them. Miharu turned to see a boy about her age, with spiky black hair shoved under a red cap. "What happened?"

"Mars was here. I think they've collected all the Lake Pokémon by now." Michiyo sighed.

"The Lake Pokémon?" Emi repeated, helping her brother up. "Isn't that just a legend?"

"Either it's real, or Team Galaxy believes in it enough to blow up Lake Risshi."

"Hold on." Takumi interrupted, annoyed. "You mean to tell me that Team Galaxy destroyed a historic Sinnoh site because of some silly little legend?"

Michiyo was looking out over the waters of Shinji, as if she could somehow see clues behind Galaxy's odd behaviour.

"I don't know," she said finally. "But if they have succeeded, they'll probably be in Tobari City by now."

She turned to the boy who had just arrived. "Kōki, will you meet me there?"

Kōki nodded, called out a Staraptor and climbed on his back (4). Once he had disappeared behind the thicket of trees, Michiyo turned back to Miharu. "Listen Haru. There's a lot of crazy stuff going on right now, and for some reason no one is doing anything about it. So I need to go to Tobari and stop Team Galaxy from succeeding in whatever they're doing."

"But you're only ten!" Miharu exclaimed. "You need to call the police or something!"

Michiyo shook her head. "Haru, I've had experience with Galaxy before. The police, they don't take them seriously. And by the time they do, it'll be too late. They're planning to do something horrible, and somebody needs to stop them. Why not me?"

"But...but..." Miharu struggled for words. "What if you get hurt?"

Michiyo asked. "Nothing can stop me if I've got my Pokémon with me!" she declared teasingly. Miharu had to laugh at her friend's typical behaviour.

"All right, fine. Take care of yourself, Michi. You promise?"

"Of course!" Michiyo laughed. "I still have to meet you when you're sixteen, remember? At Nanakamado-hakase's lab."

"Right." Miharu studied her friend with worry. "You sure you'll be all right?"

Michiyo waved her away. "I'll be fine. You'll see. Just - " here her smile faded and she gazed at Miharu with a strange expression. " - you be careful yourself, Haru. I don't know what all Team Galaxy has up their sleeves."

Miharu nodded. "Okay."

She watched Michiyo clamber onto her own Staraptor's back as the Pokémon stood patiently.

For a split second Miharu had the terrible urge to call her friend back and convince her to stay far away from Tobari and Team Galaxy. But then Michiyo waved cheerily and her Staraptor kicked itself up into the air, and that was the last time Miharu saw Anzai Michiyo again.

**END CHAPTER ONE**

1 : I'm assuming they have cartoons and dramas on TV too - I always imagined there was a sitcom about three girls living with their Pokemon and juggling the stress of life, love, and coordinating (because you know girls never want to be anything except coordinators! (end sarcasm)). Ugh...that was cheesy. But you know, Emi loves the cheese.

2 : Just like Japan celebrates spring with the Cherry Blossom Festival, I thought Futaba would celebrate spring as well - but by celebrating the town's most cherished event. I like imagining tomboy-ish Michiyo being forced into a kimono every year - although I think she would secretly enjoy being dressed up for such an occasion!

3 : Does anyone remember that? Way back in the beginning of Diamond/Pearl when you first meet Mars at Valley Windworks, she says, "I'll make you a deal. If you lose this battle, you leave. If I lose we, Team Galactic, will leave". She must have been really confident that she would win. And really, when you do lose to a ten-year-old kid, you don't go, "Uh - shit. Well, you win, little kid. We're going." You say, "Ahaha. My fingers were crossed. Grunt #43, knock the kid out, will you?" Oh, game villans...no logic, no logic at all...

4 : Uh - so, I know Staraptor's only like, what, just under four feet? But if we're going by the "usual Japanese ten-year-old" (which, according to the Sinnoh Pokedex, is 4'6" and 75lbs), then it _could_ work. Work with me here! I mean, Toxicroak was humongous in the anime, even though it's only four feet or so, so...I'm not the only one that disregards normal proportions!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Et voila!

**TRANSLATIONS:**

Kissaki/Snowpoint  
Mt. Tengan/Mt. Coronet  
Kikuno-sama/Bertha (the old lady in the Elite Four)  
Hakutai/Eterna  
Nagisa/Sunyshore  
Tobari/Veilstone

* * *

"It's your father." was the first thing Shiraishi Izumi said when she burst into her sixteen-year-old daughter's room at seven in the morning.

The second thing she said was, "They won't let him back into the country."

By "they", Miharu assumed her mother meant Team Galaxy - Miharu pulled the covers up above her ears and pretended to be asleep. Tabasco yawned, flexed and resumed his curled up position behind her knees.

"Didn't you hear me?" her mother demanded.

"Why is Dad trying to get _into_ this country when there are so many people trying to get _out_?" Miharu asked sourly. "I mean, Johto has a fully-functional and well-equipped law enforcement staff with no threat of dictator-like Teams in sight. If I were him, I would be delighted to continue piddling around in those old Ruins."

Izumi sighed and raised her eyes to the ceiling. Her daughter, as of late, had become increasingly bitter towards her father for his continued absence and it was beginning to grate on her nerves.

"Well, I think it's about time we joined your father in Johto," she insisted. "The situation here has gotten _completely_ out of hand."

"Mum, we _can't_ leave. Galaxy is watching the borders obsessively. If Dad can't even get in, how can we get out?"

In order to make sense of what is happening, we have to go back six years. A few days after Miharu met Michiyo at Shinji Lake, there was a terrible storm. The sky had darkened quickly and began pulsating with weird light and colours.

"An electrical storm." her mother assured her, albeit without much certainty.

All the clocks stopped. Some even started going backwards. Before the television had dissolved into fuzzy static, Miharu learned that wild Pokemon were fleeing Mt. Tengan in a frenzied panic, upsetting anything in their way (be it trees, trainers, or small towns). Tabasco himself seemed quite agitated, and made a break for the screen door before Izumi locked it, after which he took to pacing the living room floor, jittery and wide-eyed.

Then, it stopped. Everything returned to normal. No one really knew what was going on until what was later known as "the initial takeover".

That week Shirona-sama, League Champion of Sinnoh, was shot. She was taken to the hospital, alive but critically injured, and in that time all four of the League's Elites fled their positions. Though the news was spread nation-wide, none of them were found except Kikuno-sama, who was found at the base of Mt. Tengan, her neck broken.

"The poor dear," her mother tutted sympathetically when she opened the newspaper. "Shirona-sama's attempted murder must have spooked her." She wouldn't show Miharu the newspaper article and rushed her off to school, where the kids were all talking about it anyways.

What baffled everyone the most about the case, however, was the lack of proper police involvement. There was no word on what they were doing to find the person who had tried to take Shirona-sama's life, if they were doing anything at all.

But people in Futaba went on with their lives. After all, they were practically isolated on Sinnoh's most southerly peninsula. The events in such far away cities seemed so trivial.

Until the take-over spread south.

Miharu was twelve, and had skipped school (her mother had gone to visit relatives in Masago for the day). She was spread out on the couch, watching PokeGirls and wondering if she should take a shower when her mother threw the front door open, home eight hours early. Miharu leapt from the couch to make an excuse, but Izumi was too angry to care at the moment.

"For God's sake!" she exclaimed. "What has this world come to?"

A few members of Team Galaxy - "_Galaxy soldiers_, they call themselves," her mother spat, "_Galaxy soldiers, if you please_!" - had stopped the bus her mother had taken to Masago and checked everybody's identification.

Those without "proper identification" (called Galaxy passports) had to return back to Futaba. Nobody had heard of these passports, which prompted one of the soldiers to get on the bus' microphone and 

give them an irritated, monotonous lecture on the new policies of Team Galaxy.

"I don't know _who_ allowed those weirdoes to patrol Futaba." her mother ranted. "They go about like they _own_ the place."

She phoned up the police, but they weren't much help. Miharu listened in on the living room line. "Sorry, Shiraishi-san," said the officer on the phone sheepishly. "The laws have changed."

Censorship. Miharu looked it up in the dictionary when she was fourteen. In school, the History curriculum was rewritten to include a section on Team Galaxy. There was less and less on world-wide events on the evening news and in the papers. By the time Miharu had turned fifteen, "front-page news" meant Team Galaxy's new monument in Miso City. Michiyo never wrote her again, but Miharu kept up the strong hope that she would meet her in Masago

And now, on the day of her sixteenth birthday, Miharu woke to find her house in a state of chaotic transition.

Izumi threw the covers off her daughter's bed and slapped her lightly on the arm. "Time to get up, now." she said sternly, and left the room, leaving Miharu to get up and get dressed. Pulling a blue tank top over her head (though the morning was still chilly) and buttoning up her jeans, Miharu opened her door and tripped over a box. Muffling a swear, Miharu clutched her throbbing toe and looked up to see her mother pulling packing tape over a box labelled, '_Cleaning_'.

"What's going on?" Miharu asked. Tabasco wound around her ankles, purring.

Izumi looked up and said matter-of-factly, "Well, since your father can't get into the country, we're leaving it."

"Mum!" Miharu exclaimed. "When were you going to tell me this?"

"Your father has a friend in Kissaki who can take us across the sea," her mother continued, unabashed. "I was planning for us to leave in a week, but if you want to leave sooner..."

"What about my friends, and school, and Michiyo?" Miharu asked, irritated that her mother was treating this so lightly.

"Well, I've heard that the Johto education system is excellent." said her mother soothingly. "And your father has a research partner with a son about your age, so when you move there you'll _already _have a new friend...and you can always _write_ to Michiyo, dear."

Miharu sighed, resigned to that fact that when her mother decided something, it was decided. "Well, I need to go to Masago to meet Michiyo, so I may as well tell her I'm leaving when I see her."

"Oh, that's right...the League challenge..." her mother looked regretful. "Well dear, I'm _sure_ the Johto League Challenge is just as fun..."

"I'm sure, Mum." Miharu zipped up her dark blue hoodie and asked, "Can I have my passport?"

Citizens of Sinnoh, if they wanted to travel anywhere within the country, had to go to a Galaxy building in one of four cities - Hakutai, Yosuga, Tobari, or Nagisa - to apply for an official Galaxy passport. It was simple enough for the inhabitants of those cities, but for people farther away (Miharu and her mother in Futaba, for example), getting a passport required a long, sometimes expensive procedure of mailing a request, receiving pre-registration forms, sending money, getting more forms, etc...

And that was just to move around Sinnoh. Getting out of (and into) the country was harder, and very few people could do either anymore, thanks to a complicated tangle of Galaxy bylaws and restrictions.

Her mother went into her bedroom and pulled a small safe from behind the dresser. She opened it and passed Miharu a small rectangular turquoise book, stamped with the yellow Galaxy G. Miharu pocketed it. "It'll expire in a few days," her mother warned. "I ordered a renewal, but you should be able to get to Masago on this one."

"Thanks. I'll take Tabasco with me." Miharu picked the Pokemon up, kissed her mother on the cheek, and left the house. It had rained during the night, and it was a bit misty as Miharu wheeled her bike out of the garage. She attached a sturdy wicker basket to the handlebars and placed Tabasco inside. Hefting her bag higher on her shoulders, Miharu took off down the street.

* * *

The Galaxy soldier patrolling the outskirts of Futaba managed to look interested as Miharu drew close. She dismounted and walked alongside her bike towards him. Team Galaxy, over the past few years, had discarded the turquoise wigs that their "grunts" wore (though some wore helmets of the same color on more serious outings). This soldier had a shock of light brown hair and looked only a few years older than her.

"Hello." he said, eyeing her in an unsettling manner. "How're you?"

"Fine, thanks." Miharu thrust her passport at him. "I'm going to Masago." The soldier flipped her passport open and examined it.

"Shiraishi Miharu...d'you have any photo ID?" he asked.

Miharu took a second to dig her wallet out of her bag, opened it and then said, "Shit." Too late she remembered her school card lying on the top of her dresser where she had put it the night before. Resigned, she held out her hand to take her passport back. "Sorry," she explained. "I left my ID at home."

The man snatched her passport out of her reach. "Listen," he said, grinning widely. "I _hate_ to see a pretty girl in distress...I'll tell you what, I'll let you through if you do something for me."

The underlying meaning was clear and, after several attempts to get her passport back, Miharu started backing away, shaking her head.

"That's really...kind of you, but I can just bike back to my house..."

The man grabbed hold of her by the wrist. "Don't trouble yourself." he laughed. "I won't keep you _too_ long."

Panicked, Miharu exclaimed, "Let go!" and swung at him, but he caught her other wrist and proceeded to drag her towards the wooded area that bordered either side of the Route. When she made an attempt to call for help, he pushed her farther into the trees. "Hey, shut up Shiraishi!" he said teasingly, letting go of one of her wrists in favour of placing a hand on her back.

Just then Tabasco (who had finally decided to help, apparently), hissed and swiped at the back of the man's leg. He swore and twisted around, jerking a heel back into the small cat's ribs.

"Little shit!" he snarled. Miharu yanked her wrist from his grasp and, planting her hands firmly on his suited chest, shoved him backwards. He stumbled, tripped over a disgruntled Tabasco, and hit the back of his skull on a protruding tree branch with a sickening 'crack'.

He slumped down to the ground, head lolling and hair matted with dark blood. For a minute, Miharu just stood there in disbelief, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

Somewhere a Starly cried out. Miharu stepped round to the man's right side, looking for signs of life. She contemplated checking his vitals but realized she didn't want to know the outcome. Instead, she gingerly slid her passport out of his breast pocket - he had left it open on the page with her information, and now dark blood had dripped onto it, marring several key points, rendering the passport useless. Miharu replaced it in her bag anyways.

"Tabasco." she said, her voice steady. The Meowth approached the girl hesitantly. "Let's go."

He leapt into her arms and she carried him back to her bike. Tabasco placed his chin on her shoulder and looked back at the soldier's motionless body. Miharu tightened her jaw but never once looked back.

* * *

Miharu cycled past Masago Town's welcome sign (_Town of Sand_!) and immediately knew which building was Nanakamado-hakase's laboratory - the large, blue-green roof rose high above the small, quaint houses in the town. Ahead, Miharu could glimpse the sandy beach that gave Masago its name. The air smelt like the sea. Miharu parked her bicycle by the laboratory and, taking Tabasco in her arms, pushed the door open.

The lab was cool and white-walled. Several machines lined up against the walls blinked quietly and thrummed. At the far end of the laboratory, three figures were discussing something quietly in low tones.

"Excuse me?" Miharu asked hesitantly. The figures turned. The one in the middle was a boy about her age with spiky black hair and big brown eyes, wearing a lab coat. Flanking him were two Galaxy soldiers and Miharu took a step back, suddenly nervous.

The boy walked across the lab. "Yes? Can I help you?"

The two Galaxy soldiers remained on the other side of the lab. One was writing something down on a clipboard while the other watched Miharu with a bored expression.

"Hi. Uhm. My friend was supposed to meet me here," Miharu tried to explain lamely. "Is Nanakamado-hakase around?"

"What's your friend's name?" asked the boy. Close up, he looked rather familiar, though Miharu had never visited Masago in her life.

"Anzai Michiyo." she replied. His eyes widened.

"You're Michiyo's friend?" he asked. "Shiraishi?" he said her name in a lower tone with a quick glance over his shoulder at the soldiers.

"Yeah."

"I'm Matsuura Koki." he held out his hand and Miharu shook it, finally understanding. "Ah! I remember you! You were at Shinji Lake, six years ago!" she exclaimed. Koki grimaced, and motioned for her to quiet down. "That's me." he said quickly.

Miharu looked around the otherwise empty lab. "Is the Professor around?" she asked again. Koki shook his head. "He's dead."

"Oh!" Shocked, Miharu struggled to keep her voice down. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't know. Was it his health?"

Koki shook his head again. "No, he was murdered."

"By _who_??" Miharu gasped. Koki stared at her gravely. "Who else do you think?" he asked her, jerking a thumb subtly behind him.

"Galaxy-dan?" Miharu concluded doubtfully. "You know for sure?"

"Of course there's no definite proof, but who else would it be?" Koki hissed. "Think about it. First Shirona-sama, then Kikuno-sama, then Nanakamado-hakase..." he looked like he was going to say another name, but stopped.

"Sorry." Miharu mumbled. "I don't...know much about what's going on."

"That's all right." Koki said quickly. "It's not your fault, Shiraishi-san."

"Has Michiyo contacted the lab at all?" Miharu switched the subject. "She and I had an agreement to meet here."

Koki stared at her. "You really _don't_ know much, do you?"

"...What do you mean?" Miharu asked hesitantly.

"Shiraishi-san - Michiyo's been missing for six years. No one knows where she is."

* * *

"My dad took over after Nanakamado-hakase's death, of course," Koki was explaining to her several minutes later. "I'm too young to run the lab, but I do most of the work on the days my father is away."

Miharu nodded absent-mindedly, wrapping her fingers tighter around the cup of tea Koki had made for her. After learning of Michiyo's disappearance Koki, worried that she might faint, had led her to a little side room and made some tea. The room had a writing desk, a large filing cabinet and two chairs. Miharu gave a heavy sigh. "I - I can't believe she's gone missing. When did this happen? Where did you last see her?"

Koki shrugged helplessly. "We were at the top of Mt. Tengan, battling Team Galaxy - Michiyo sent Nanakamado-hakase and I away from the top while she and Watanabe-san stayed to fight them."

Miharu started at the mention of Jun's name. "Jun? How is he?"

Koki shrugged again. "I don't know. I haven't heard from him."

"They're _both_ missing?" Miharu exclaimed. "At the same time?"

"No. Watanabe-san sent me a letter a couple of months after the Mt. Tengan incident. He said that he had something important to tell both myself and the Professor. Then...after the Initial Takeover, Galaxy declared several important figures potential enemies of the region. Nanakamado-hakase was one of them, which is why we were sent - and still have - Galaxy soldiers to monitor us and our research. Watanabe-san was also on the list. After the list was announced I tried to contact him, but he's been missing ever since."

"What has this world come to?" Miharu asked, sinking lower into her chair. Koki sighed in agreement.

Suddenly, there was a commotion outside - several new Galaxy soldiers pushed open the doors of the lab and ran in, shouting. Koki frowned, leaned to the side in order to see out into the lab. "Stay here, Shiraishi-san." he said, his tone wary. "I'll just be a moment."

With a sinking feeling of dread, Miharu kept her face turned away from the door, frightened. Had they discovered the body outside of Futaba? Were they coming to spread the word, interrogate anyone who looked guilty? Tabasco purred and wound his way reassuringly around her ankles.

After a couple of minutes Koki bustled in again with a large cardboard box - he swung the door shut with his foot behind him.

Setting the box down on the table, Koki fixed her with a stern stare and said, "The soldiers say someone killed a Galaxy soldier outside Futaba. What do you know about this?"

**END CHAPTER TWO**


End file.
